**************************BurmaNet*************************** "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ************************************************************* The BurmaNet News: Monday, March 6, 1995 Issue #120 NOTED IN PASSING: "What governments should really fear is a communications expert." Zapatista rebel spokesman, Subcommandante Marcos "No, what they should fear is a demolitions expert." An ethnic rebel from Burma on being read the Newsweek article. He was holding a map of the planned Unocal/Total gas pipeline. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Contents: ***********************INSIDE BURMA*************************** AMNESTY: "NO LAW AT ALL" ******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI********************** NLM/SLORC: 9,495 PERSONS OF 1,880 HOUSEHOLDS ARRIVE BACK NLM/SLORC: WHITHER KNU? CHAPTERS 23 AND 24 ********************INTERNATIONAL***************************** SCB: TEXACO SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS ****************************MISC****************************** SCB: TIN MAUNG WIN THE HUMBUG [SLORCITE] NEWSWEEK: WHEN WORDS ARE THE BEST WEAPON ************************************************************** The BurmaNet News is an ********************************* electronic newspaper * Iti * covering Burma. Articles * snotpo * from newspapers, magazines, * werthatcor * newsletters, the wire * ruptsbutfea * services and the Internet as * r.Fearoflos * well as original material * ingpowercor * are published. * ruptsthosewhoare * The BurmaNet News is * subjecttoit...Theef * e-mailed directly to * fortnecessarytoremain * subscribers and is * uncorruptedinanenvironm * also distributed via * entwherefearisanintegralpar * the soc.culture.burma * tofeverydayexistenceisnoti * and seasia-l mailing * mmediatelyapparentto * lists and is also * thosefortunate * available via the * enoughtolivein * reg.burma conference on * statesgovern * the APC networks. For a * edbytherule * free subscription to * oflaw...fear * the BurmaNet News, send * is ahab it. * an e-mail message to: * Iam * * no * majordomo@igc.apc.org * taf * * ra * In the body of the message, * id. * type "subscribe burmanet-l" * Aun * (without quotation marks) * gSa * * nS * Letters to the editor, * uu * comments or contributions * Ky * of articles should be * i. * sent to the editor at: ********************************* strider@igc.apc.org In Washington: Attention to BurmaNet c/o National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) Information Office 815 15th Street NW, Suite 609 Washington D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 393-7342, Fax: (202) 393-7343 In Bangkok: Attention to BurmaNet c/o Burma Issues PO Box 1076, Silom Post Office Bangkok 10504 Thailand Tel: (066) (02) 234-6674, Fax: (066) (02) 631 0133 [The NCGUB is the government-in-exile, made up of the people who won the election in 1990. Burma Issues is a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization that documents human rights conditions in Burma and maintains an archive of Burma-related documents. Views expressed in The BurmaNet News do not necessarily reflect those of either NCGUB or Burma Issues] ************************************************************** *************THE BURMANET NEWS--MARCH 6, 1995************* ************************************************************** ***********************INSIDE BURMA*************************** AMNESTY: "NO LAW AT ALL" Posted by uneoo@physics.adelaide.edu.au Wed Mar 1 20:36:06 1995 From: U Ne Oo Subject: OPPRESSIVE LAWS IN BURMA To: soc.culture.burma@conf.apc.org Date: Thu, 2 Mar 1995 15:13:45 +1030 (CST) Cc: strider@igc.apc.org Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit /* written Thu Mar 2 15:02:04 CST 1995 uneoo@physics.adelaide.edu.au on igc:so c.culture.burma */ /* Various laws restricting freedom of speech and associations in Burma */ [Following summary, which is given in the Appendix-1 of the Amnesty International document ASA 16/11/92, explained about oppressive laws in Burma. These laws dating back even to the period of 1950s. But the enforcement as well as enactment of these laws are much more severe in the period of present Military Government of Myanmar, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). We should encourage the U.N. Special Rapporteur, Prof. Yozo Yokota, to put more pressure on the Military Government of Myanmar to abolish these oppressive laws. -- U Ne Oo.] MYANMAR: NO LAW AT ALL HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS UNDER MILITARY RULE October 1992. (ASA 16/11/92) PP-34, APPENDIX -1 ------------------ This appendix summarizes the principal laws employed by the SLORC to imprison and try prisoners of conscience and other political prisoners. Laws in force before September 1988 ----------------------------------- 1. The 1950 Emergency Provisions Act: allows for the imprisonment of up to seven years of any person who either "infringes upon the integrity, health, conduct and respect of State military organizations and Government employees towards the ...government", or "spreads false news about the government", or "disrupts the morality or the behaviour of a group of people". 2. The 1957 Unlawful Associations Act: allows for imprisonment for up to five years for anyone who has been a member of, or assisted any association "(a) which encourages or aids persons to commit acts of violence of intimidation or [whose] members habitually commit such acts, or (b) which has been declared unlawful by the President of the Union". 3. Sections 121,122-1, and 124 of the 1957 Penal Code: define High TReason and misprision of High Treason (Knowing that high treason has been or will be committed, but not reporting it to the authorities ) and allows for sentences of death, life or seven years' imprisonment. In late 1990, 35 people, including 25 members of parliament-elect, were accused of being party to discussions on the establishment of a "parallel government" and sentenced under these Sections to between seven and 25 years imprisonment. 4. The 1962 Printers' and Publishers' Registration Law:was amended in July 1989, increasing the maximum sentences under the law to five years' imprisonment. The amendment followed an announcement by SLORC Secretary-1 Khin Nyunt that "Legal organizations that have registered [and] that wish to print and publish documents, books, and printed material, will have to register with the Ministry of Home and Religious Affairs and apply for exemption in accordance with the 1962 Printers and Publication Law." After obtaining an exemption they could print and publish documents, books and printed materials on the condition that they do not contain material which "opposes the SLORC, the regional LORCs at different levels, or the government; insults, slanders or attempts to divide the Defense Forces; instigates actions that affect law and order and peace and tranquility; or contradicts the orders that have been issued whenever necessary." 5. The 1975 State Protection Law ( Law to Safeguard the State from the Danger of Destructive Elements) was amended in August 1991 to allow the state to detain without trial for up to five years any person "who will do, is doing, or has done, an act which endangers the peace of most citizens or the security of the state, or thgnty of the st ate." Aung San Suu Kyi, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is detained under this law, as was U Nu Prior to his release in April 1992. Martial Law Restrictions from September 1988 -------------------------------------------- 6. Order No. 2/88, September 1988: set the parameters of martial law. It included a curfew from 8 pm to 4 am and forbade gatherings of more than five people on the streets "regardless of whether the act is with the intention of creating a disturbance or of committing a crime". Although the curfew has been reduced in some areas and lifted entirely in others, other aspects of martial law, including severe restrictions on freedom of expression and assembly and unfair trials by military tribunals, remain in force across the country. 7. SLORC Martial Law Order No. 2/89 in July 1989: established military tribunals to try martial law offenders in "cases concerning defiance of orders issued by the State Law and Order Restoration Council, by the Government or by the Commanders concerned" and are empowered to impose sentences of death, life imprisonment, or not less than three years' imprisonment with hard labour. The tribunals use summary procedures, including waiving "unnecessary witnesses". The decisions of the tribunals are final; there is no judicial appeal against their sentences. 8. SLORC Order No.3/90,:"relating to the right to assemble and campaign", was announced in February 1990, during the election campaign. All political speeches had to be given prior approval by the local township authorities. Criticism of the authorities was forbidden, and any statement deemed insulting to the SLORC, the regional LORCs, the defence forces and the "solidarity of the national races" was made punishable by up to three years' imprisonment and a fine. 9. SLORC Declaration No. 1/90,: issued in july 1990, declared that "the SLORC, the Defence Forces, is not bound by any constitution. The SLORC is ruling the country with martial law. It is known to all that the SLORC is a military government and that it is a government recognised by the countries of the world and the United Nations." This declaration set out a program for the drafting of a new constitution before power could be transferred to the winners of the election. People were required to sign their agreement to Declaration No. 1/90 under threat of arrest. 10. SLORC Order No. 6/90, October 1990: banned all "unlawful Sangha [Buddhist monk] organizations with the exception of the nine Sects of Sanghas" and warned political parties that " action shall be taken under existing laws" if they attempted to "misuse" religion for political purposes. 11. SLORC Order No. 1/91, April 1991,: issued warnings to civil servants. Under this Order, public servants were not only barred from politics themselves, but were also required to "prohibit their dependents or persons under their guardianship from taking direct or indirect part in activities that are aimed at opposing the government". According to the Order, "effective legal action" would be taken against those who failed to fulfill this requirement, but the nature of the action and the punishment were not specified. /* ENDREPORTS */ ******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI********************** NLM/SLORC: 9,495 PERSONS OF 1,880 HOUSEHOLDS ARRIVE BACK The New Light of Myanmar Newspaper 03 March 1995 After members of the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA) under the Democratic Kayin Buddhist Organization (DKBO) attacked and captured Manerplaw, the central headquarters of terrorist KNU armed group, and Kawmura or New Wakha, the last stronghold of KNU, peace and securty have been restored in Manerplaw area. The Kayin nationals who lived in border areas fled to the other country because of KNU atrocities and those who lived in so-called refugee camps of KNU, returned to Myanmar group by group. A total of 9,495 persons (4,545 males and 4,950 females) of 1,880 households arrived back up to today. Among them were 292 males and 296 females of 99 households of Ngethlyartaw Village: 102 males and 95 females of 32 households of Htidawkoe Village: 145 males and 156 females of 48 households of Ngethlyartaw Ywalay: 36 males and 29 females of 11 households of Htiyarthay Village: 176 males and 156 females of 55 households of Maelayaw Village: 80 males and 76 females of 26 households of Htinohta Village: 50 males and 54 females of 20 households of Sarda village: 28 males and 28 females of 10 households of Htiwahkhee Village: 19 males and 18 females of 14 households of Htibawthaw Village: 26 males and 33 females of 11 households of Htipawnohta Village: 105 males and 114 females of 40 households of Htikane Village: 20 males and 20 females of 10 households of Naw-kamoehkam Village: 34 males and 28 females of 11 households of KhawhtipawhoVllage:17 males and 14 females of 12 households of Wabwehtu Village: 34 males and 45 females of 10 households of Mepalo Village: five males and three females of two households of Htimukhee Village: 54 males and 67 females of 20 households of Htimawko Village: and 18 males and 24 females of nine households of Padupu Village. Altogether 1,241 males and 1,256 females totalling 2,497 persons of 400 households of 18 villages arrived back up to today. At the same time, family members of Kayin nationals returned to Myainggyingu group by group due to organization of DKBO who wanted peace and realized the genuine goodwill of the State, assistance given by the Tatmadaw and warm welcome of the people. Altogether 3,304 males and 3,694 females totalling 6,998 persons of 1,440 households arrived back at Myainggyingu up to today. Officials at various villages warmly welcomed family members of nationals who returned to their villages. Officials at Myainggyingu Villg uittmporary huts for those who returned, gave medical treatment and opened welfare shops and sold essential commodities. The Ministry of Progress of Border Areas and National Races and Development Affairs is reforming the earth with bulldozers for building dispensary and school there. ******************KAREN STATE/KAWTHOOLEI********************** NLM/SLORC: WHITHER KNU? CHAPTERS 23 AND 24 The New Light of Myanmar Newspaper 28 February 1995 KNUs believe they lost Manerplaw because the attack was unexpected or because the Noday and Nawta defence line was breached. They, however, strongly believed that Kawmura Camp would never fall. They thought that even a daily bombardment for three whole months would not be able to take Kawmura. When rains come, waters will rise and even those in the Camp would then have to climb up trees. Attackers would be swept away. Kawmura will not fall. Kawmura must never fall. Kawmura Fortress was very strong. The killing ground at the 200-metre-wide mouth of omega bend was an open clearing. There was no cover whatsoever. Those who came up could simply be mowed down. Minefields and booby traps laid between eleven lines of barbed-wire obstacles were very thick. Planks, with three-inch or four-inch nails driven through had been laid on the ground. There were barbed-wire concertinas in between lines of barbed- wire barricades. Barbed-wire concertinas were no ordinary civilian use materials: they were products of defence industries. Barbed-wire concertinas that came while the battle raged were brand new stock and they still had grease on them. On 8 February 1995 the KNU managed to put another barbed-wire barricade with two rolls of barbed-wire concertinas after the engagement. The walls of concrete bunkers are about four feet thick. Teak logs had girths of two arms length and could easily withstand heavy shelling. There were hundreds of thousands of plastic sand bags in Kawmura: the bags were those made in the other country. Heavy arms and small arms were in abundance. There were more weapons than men to handle them. How would such a strong fortress fall? Allies from the other country had promised to help the KNU by firing one hundred 150mm shells. Rocket pads mounted on trucks were to fire in clusters. Radars to seek targets and message intercepting gadgets were in full function. Some KNUs were standing by in the other country to prevent possible attacks from the rear through the territory of the other country. The other country repeatedly declared that they would not permit such an attack. The other country maintained that it would not accept any of the two belligerent forces on its territory. But forces of one belligerent was using their land quietly under some secret understanding, greasing palms discreetly. When the battle took place, the 16th Battalion sent as a reinforcement for 6th Brigade took only some symbolic action. The ABSDF forces could not be relied upon a bit. One after another, ABSDF men were deserting. Htaw Hla kept open only one wooden bridge across the river with orders to shoot down those who used it to flee. But deserters sneaked through barbed-wire barricades and mine fields. "We run not out of fear, we run because we don't want to fight. We don't want to die a senseless death. You stupid idiots, stay here to get killed". This was what deserters from the 16th Battalion had said and it infuriated Htaw Hla. "Kill them. Kill those who try to run away. Kill those who retreat". Htaw Hla's death sentences were unable to deter deserters. A mortar shell fell on a 120mm mortar crew exploding stacked mortar shells killing whole squads of troops. This further terrorised the KNUs. When Htaw Hla received Tamla Baw's evacuation order he issued instructions for an orderly withdrawal. But Kawmura battle did not end in a withdrawal: it only ended in a complete rout. There was absolutely no discipline. Nothing could be saved. Numerous heavy arms and small arms were left behind. The withdrawal was most disorderly. It was a very ugly affair. "Whichever leg is not swift enough is a traitorous leg": this became the slogan of those who fled as fast as their legs could carry them. In fact, there had been no discipline in Kawmura for a long time. Kawmura was strong in material equipment but morale had long been swiftly deteriorating. Kawmura had faced Tatmadaw attacks only up to April 1992. The Tatmadaw then ceased offensives and Kawmura remained safe. Troops began to acquire an easy-going life. Whenever villagers in the area lost their cattle, rustlers invariably were Kawmura troops. But the masses dared not open their mouths. They suffered in silence. The Donyin Township is under the jurisdiction of Kawmura Special Area. The Kayin masses of Donyin Township had suffered long under KNLA persecution. On 19 November 1994, therefore, KNU 2nd Lt Khin Maung of Kawmura Township made a complaint to 101 Battalion second-in-command Than Maung. 101 Battalion could take no action. The depravity of KNU leadership had gone beyond limits. Lt-Col Soe Soe of Maesod frequently liaised with one Ma Wan Tin of Khalaukno. Donyin Township President Mahn Htain Lin had kept Moo Moo (alias) Pyu Pyu of Mya Pe village as his mistress. Johnny, a long-time womanizer, bedded down with Naw Moo Nwe of Kawpauk village. Johnny lovingly renamed her Ratna. Phado Mahn Khin Aung, Phado Than Lwin, Hla Gyaw, Kyauk Khe, Saya Htoo Htoo misused the girls from Eindu, Mya Pe, Kawpauk and Taw Khameik villages. KNU leaders did not only ravish the girls; they even did business in league with rich men. The girls kept sinking deeper and deeper as they went on waiting for summons of their "brother' Bogyis and their 'brother' Phados. Kawmura had been stinking for a long time. Kawmura fell leaving some inexplicable problems behind. Among 800 men, only six who were drunk, who were 'high' on drugs and those who did not realise that their troops were leaving kept resisting. Htaw Hla was now left with a responsibility to explain why Kawmura fell. He gave a dirge-like explanation to Nga Mya. Nga Mya, with his wife and mentor Naw Larmu, waited for Htaw Hla at Maesod. "The chief culprit is the 6th Brigade. Those fellows from the 16th Battalion did not fight at all. When they deserted that demoralised 101st Battalion. On 20th Min Wai group deserted and surrendered. It was Kyauk Khe who enabled Min Wai to surrender. I bashed this fellow and he admitted". "Then why do you keep this fellow still alive? Kill him". Nga Mya is a man who does not care about a human life as much as the life of an insect and thus kept passing death sentences. "Saw Chit Thu is not trustworthy too. "Then, send him to God". "I will do it right away." Htaw Hla and his men, now on the other bank of Thaungyin River, tried to counter attack Kawmura. Those the KNU had bribed pounded Kawmura with 155 mm mortars. Truck-mounted launch pads sent rockets. They also opened small arms fire. Messengers of death flew out of the other country, crossed the Thaungyin River and fell on Myanmar territory. But they were not to get Kawmura back. Phar Nwee of DKBA was hunting for Johnny and Johnny was trying to get away. Johnny fled to Maesod and reported to Nga Mya. "Burn the towns down. Pound them with heavy arms. Wipe out Thingan Nyinaung from the face of the earth". Johnny nodded his head to Nga Mya's oft-repeated order and came back. Htain Maung was worried about Johnny and tried to call him. Phar Nwee and Kyaw Kalei were fighters of the same calibre as Johnny. They had operated together for a long time and each knew the other in and out. Htain Maung would have lost his right hand if only Johnny were eliminated. Maung Tun and Gyawlai were not trustworthy. They remained completely passive. Maj Kyaw Kalei of DKBA entered Kawmura Camp. The forward bunkers were in ruin. KNUs had been trapped in them and killed. It was getting hot and the place had begun to stink. Teak logs were still in flames. The whole camp was in complete ruin. "We've been trapped. Can't get out. Tumbling down". Maj Kyaw Kalei had heard such screams on his walkie-talkie. Now, those pitiful screams seem to ring in his ears. All KNUs in forward bunkers perished. Those in the rear fled without making any resistance. A big house built for Nga Mya to stay on his visit had been turned into a sieve. The courthouse was pock-marked with shell hits. Maj Kyaw kalei found a pot of rice. It was still warm and must have been cooked very recently. Those who did not know they were going to withdraw must have cooked it. He had a hearty lunch only at three o'clock in the afternoon. "Bohmu, villagers from the other side have come to bridge head. Asking whether we wanted to buy rice or ngapi. They want to buy barbed-wire concertinas and tin roofing. They also want to buy timber. They want to buy logs in bunkers". "If they build houses with those timber their houses will be haunted. Its a nuisance. Destroy that wooden bridge". Major Kyaw Kalei came to the monastery. It was timber-walled and tin- roofed. But it was neglected by those in Kawmura and was now covered in shrubbery. The whole monastery was pock-marked having been hit by firings from both sides. The Image of Lord Buddha remained unscathed. Major Kyaw Kalei made obeisance, said prayers and shared merits gained with those who had fallen in the fight. The battle had ended with heavy casualties on both sides. Kawmura was now quiet and peaceful. But there was no peace with the KNUs yet. Leaders lived in panic fearing abduction by DKBA forces. They were no longer able to gad about in the other country carrying arms. Military leaders of the other country had come to regard them as a nuisance. They were no more amicable with the lower echelons whom they used to bribe before. Some unknown persons had wagged their tongues that the other side, during the battle, gave covering fire but only nominally and in a haphazard way. Tension between the two sides has arisen. Relations were not like before. No matter how much the West bloc media might try to boost KNU morale, it continued to ebb. Those media claimed in their reports that the whole Myanmar mass was supporting the KNU. They slyly also provoked Tatmadaw personnel. But the KNUs themselves have realised that they were not supported by Kayin masses, let alone masses of the whole country. They were no longer able to dispute the fact that it was the DKBO that has received the support of the Kayin mass. "4th Brigade and 6th Brigade will unite to remove General Mya. They will then make peace with Na Wa Ta". This news hit Nga Mya in his solar plexus. He began to get discontented with Oliver and Shwe Sai. He now felt like liquidating them as he had liquidated 1st Brigade and 8th Brigade leaders in 1970. Under Nga Mya's battering, 8th Brigade totally disappeared. 1st Brigade capitulated to him. But the majority of those 1st Brigade men were now in DKBA and were having their revenge. "It is not just declaring that the DKBA captured Kawmura when it was the Na Wa Ta that captured Kawmura. This is ground for Na Wa Ta fighters to get disgruntled. So said radio broadcasts". The West bloc media and the bosses of KNU were very much disconcerted. They began to try to agitate even the Tatmadaw personnel. But the Tatmadaw personnel are of one blood, one voice and one command. They are not after fame. Nor popularity. History is replete with battles fought by the Tatmadaw. Not all of those battles were reported in papers. The DKBA could help Tatmadaw in all possible ways. In fact what really matters is the fall of Kawmura. The West bloc felt like being sprayed with acid when Kawmura fell, suppurating. America is said to have protested. Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans made a loud noise and threatened to isolate Myanmar in South- East Asia. They keep whining for sympathy towards KNU refugees. They call KNU insurgents 'refugees'. Myanmar call only destitutes refugees. But the KNUs have been fighting after helping themselves to provisions being provided in abundance by Norway. Leaders are filthy rich. The West bloc is trying hard to support and rearm Myanma insurgents by calling them refugees. KNUs have been ruthless terrorists. They fled to the other country when they were beaten. The other side warmly welcomed them as refugees and began to work to rearm them. Numerous lives had been lost at the hands of the KNU. Not satisfied with that they are still egging the KNU on continued insurrection. This is nothing but a dirty and vile conspiracy to destroy Myanmar. The refugee policy of the West bloc is nothing but a policy of enslaving other nations under a neo-colonialist policy by breeding thugs. Their championing of human rights is also a perfidy already known to everybody. What will they say if Myanmar were to welcome Mizo rebels and Phizo rebels of India as refugees and entertain them in Myanmar? What will Thailand say if Myanmar were to allow Meo rebels of Thailand to establish bases in Myanmar? And what with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Office offer? In fact they are all scoundrels and swindlers, rogues and rascals, crooks and scam artists. They keep swindling contributions made by the international community to look after refugees. They misappropriate refugee funds. They act as brokers on behalf of the KNU and of defectors and keep making a racket out of it. Who is there to believe that Norway or Australia loves Myanmar? Gentlemen speak what is good. But some gentlemen now are talking vile in public without shame and egging on a murderer like Nga Mya. What a shame! Mail: (i)ndex (u)nread (w)rite (c)apture (d)elete (s)ave (h)elp (q)uit: Message 9 (362 lines) >From news.reporter@unique.com Fri Mar 3 14:56:34 1995 From: news.reporter@unique.com Organization: Unique Online Information Services, Elkridge, Maryland, USA Date: Fri, 03 Mar 95 13:58:49 Subject: Whither KNU? 24 To: strider@igc.apc.org File attached.... Whither KNU? - 24 The New Light of Myanmar Newspaper 01 March 1995 The KNU and its armed wing, the KNLA, have been on an irretrievable downslide for a very long time but they have now completely sank. The DKBO and the DKBA that have defied the KNU are gaining strength to strength. Those who really desire the wellbeing of Kayin nationals no longer care the KNU. Men and monks of Kayin State are whole-heartedly supporting the DKBO. The KNU Central Committee members know the reason for the collapse of KNU. They know Nga Mya's leadership has been awfully bad. But they grew up under Nga Mya's thraldom. They dare not defy Nga Mya who does not care for a human life as much as he cares for a tree leaf. They were also disunited among themselves. 5 February 1995 was the 48th anniversary of the KNU. Every year in the past, Nga Mya saw to it that this anniversary was celebrated on a grand scale at Manerplaw. Manerplaw, vibrant with foreign guests on those days in the past has now fallen. Nobody remembered the KNU Day. In fact Kayin nationals had fallen prey to the divide and rule policy of vile imperialism. Imperialists who came back to Myanmar in the wake of Myanma Anti- Fascist Revolution openly incited and agitated Kayin organisations. The imperialists urged some Kayin leaders to decide to remain within the British Empire. On 5 February 1947, Kayin political organisations joined together to form the KNU or the Kayin National Union. On 16 July 1947, with the help of the imperialist armed forces, they founded the KNDO, or an armed Kayin National Defence Organisation. The objectives of the KNU were to remain within the British Empire, to oppose formation of a Union and to obstruct movements for Independence. Under those circumstances, many Kayin leaders including the then KNU President Saw San Po Thin, Mahn Ba Khine who was martyred together with Bogyoke Aung San and Mahn Win Maung who later served as the President of the Union turned their backs on the KNU. The KNU then ceased to be a federation or front of Kayin political organisations and dropped to the status of just another Kayin political party. Saw Ba U Gyi, educated in England and who had married an English woman took over the leadership of the KNU and worked for creation of a Kayin State. After Myanmar regained Independence, the KNU worked for cecession of Kayin State from the Union. In March 1948, the Communists went underground and began their insurrection and the White PVO followed them. The Anti- Fascist People's Freedom League, or the Pha Sa Pa La, had then to enter into discussions with Leftists. When the government showed signs of leaning to the Left, imperialists found reason to incite the KNU. In July 1948, the KNDO units led by the KNU seized administrative powers of towns when they were stationed and began their insurrection. Open clashes began in January 1949. KNDO units, armed and cultivated by imperialists, took over several towns and villages including Insein, a suburb of Yangon, Mandalay the second capital of the Union, Mawlamyine, Hpa-an and Taunggyi, the capital cities of States and Divisions. But the KNU never again achieved that kind of military success of 1949. From the very outset the KNU committed several terrible massacres which became intolerable even to Kayin people. KNUs marauded villages and looted public property. They raped the village women. They slaughtered men, women and even children. They burnt whole villages. As the KNU, relying on imperialist help and with their narrow rascist views continued on their unrestrained destructive spree, they gradually began to follow the policy of warlords. Eventually, when even the Kayin masses refused to accept them, they withdrew from the towns and fled into the wilderness beginning 1950. On 12 August 1950, KNU leader Saw Ba U Gyi, Saw San Kay and a British army officer, Captain Vivian, were killed at Tawkoekoe village in Kawkareik area under an attack of the Tatmadaw. Captain Vivian was serving a term in Insein Jail for supplying arms to Galon U Saw to assassinate Bogyoke Aung San when, during the Insein battle, the KNU took him away and made him their mentor. After Saw Ba U Gyi's death, the leadership of KNU passed into the hands of Mahn Ba Zan, a former artillery officer of the British army and Saw Hunter Tha Hmway. The two of them sought reasons for the decline of Kayin revolution and discovered that the reasons were their over-reliance on imperialists, the rise lordism in their organisation and their indulgence in anti-mass destructive activities. They found that the First Programme of the KNU lacked any substance or direction. They had a CAS (K) (Civil Affairs Service, Kawthoolei) administrative programme drawn up on the lines of the British CAS (B) (Civil Affairs Service, Burma) administrative programme, but that programme remained only on paper. Mahn Ba Zan and Saw Hunter Tha Hmway agreed to collaborate with the Burma Communist Party and designated their communist programme as the Second Programme. In May 1952 Thakhin Zin of Burma Communist Party and Mahn Ba Zan signed the Zin-Zan Agreement. The KNU was reorganised in communist pattern and designated the KNU front party. But only the Bago Yoma Area and the Deltaic Area followed the Second Programme laid down by Mahn Ba Zan, the Eastern Region or the Kayin State lying between Sittaung river and the eastern border did not follow this programme. The Eastern Region continued to follow their old policy of violence. Bo Lin Htin, Commander of 5th KNDO Brigade, mined a passenger train, abducted university co-eds on their way home for vacation and sold them to the Nationalist Chinese. Nga Mya was then leading about 50 highwaymen preying upon travellers between Myawady and Kawkareik. And the Eastern Region KNU even invited the Nationalist Chinese intruders to come right down to the sea coast. A Left-Right conflict arose within the KNU after adoption of the Second Programme. Mahn Ba Zan and Saw Hunter Tha Hmway began to drift apart. Mahn Ba Zan was unable to resist the direct and unreserved leadership of the Burma Communist Party. In 1958, Central Committee members Saw Maung Toe and Saya Barhu surrendered to the government, together with their followers. Saw Hunter Tha Hmway split away from the KNU Party and went to the Eastern Region where he founded the KRC (Kayin Revolutionary Council). He returned to the legal fold in 1963 when Peace Talks with the Government succeeded. The KNUP that had to talk peace as dictated by the Burma Communist Party failed to achieve any success. In those days, Nga Mya was operating on Kawkareik-Myawady border merely as a gang of robbers independent of KNU leadership. When Saw Hunter Tha Hmwe's KRC attained peace, large sections of Eastern Region KNU followed the KRC peace line and returned to legal fold but Nga Mya stayed behind. Neither was Nga Mya interested in Kayin revolution. He continued to seek his own fortunes leading a small band of followers. When the Tatmadaw chased him, he surrendered and acted as a Tatmadaw guide. When he failed to get his hoped for privileges he went back into the jungles. The KNU shifted to their Second Programme but Nga Mya must be said to have followed the First Programme. The KNU Front Party had abandoned its political objective of cecession of Kayin State from the Union and come on to the objective of creation of a Union in communist pattern. At that time, Nga Mya's group had no political objective whatsoever. The Burma Communist Party then consistently tried to swallow the KNUP. Bo Lin Htin, Commander of KNDO 5th Brigade followed Saw Hunter Tha Hmway's leadership and returned to legal fold but he had not yet shed his warlordism. He committed murder and rape, smuggled in arms from the other country and made an attempt to return to the jungles. The Tatmadaw went to him for a discussion but he started opening fire on the Tatmadaw and he had therefore to be captured dead. His 45th wife, Naw Louisa Benson, returned to the jungle leading the KNDO 5th Brigade. Naw Louisa went on to the other country and got married to an American soldier leaving 5th Brigade elements in Nga Mya's hands. Nga Mya, a leader of about 50 robbers, thus became the boss of 5th Brigade elements and became a leader by chance. On 1 January 1966, Nga Mya made an open break with the KNUP. On 12 April 1966, Nga Mya formed the KNLC or the Kayin National Liberation Council and designated the armed bands as the KNLA or Kayin National Liberation Army. Nga Mya then managed to collect a large following. He bought arms and ammunition from the Nationalist Chinese and built up his armed strength. He sold smuggled cattle and timber to merchants in the other country and smuggled in consumer stores and became rich. But he still lacked a political programme. When he was weak he operated only as a gang of robbers and sought for personal wealth but when he gained strength he began to lust for power too. In the KNU Party Mahn Ba Zan could no longer bear the hegemony of Burma Communist Party. Therefore, in October 1967, Party President Mahn Ba Zan, Than Aung, Maung Maung and Tin U turned their backs on the KNUP and joined up with Nga Mya. On 21 June 1968, when the KNUF or Kayin National United Front was formed with Mahn Ba Zan as leader, Nga Mya became second leader and member responsible for military affairs. The KNLC, founded by Nga Mya was dissolved as desired by a majority. The 2nd Brigade and the 3rd Brigade of the KNUP also came to join forces. In Mahn Ba Zan's KNUF, Nga Mya was vice-president and chief of staff. He was also commander of the 1st Division which was the only Division of the KNUF. Nga Mya brought the 1st Brigade, the 6th Brigade, the 7th Brigade and the 2nd Brigade and the 3rd Brigade that came in later, under his command. Leaders of 1st Brigade and the 8th Brigade who refused to accept Nga Mya's leadership were executed by him. He then reorganised the two brigades as the 1st Brigade. Nga Mya kept Mahn Ba Zan with a strong political tradition as the President of the KNUF but it was he who actually dominated the KNUF. When the expatriates emerged in 1969, the KNU gained contact with them. They were a group that enjoyed the full support of the West. Controlled by CIA Agent U Law Yone, they joined ranks with the KNU and formed the United Liberation Front, or Ta Nya La, on 2 June 1970. As a result of their association with the expatriates, the KNU gained wider international contact and aid and became stronger in arms and armaments. But the merger of KNUP and the KNUF was as remote as ever. Dissensions appeared in the alliance of KNU and expatriates even before completion of one year. Clashes occurred in the years after 1971. Some 2,500 strong KNU force with rich military experience easily bullied about 800 strong 'democracy' expatriates. KNUP members fed up with Burma Communist Party influence frequently came under Mahn Ba Zan's leadership and gained strength. Though Mahn Ba Zan was President of the KNUF, Nga Mya was the real boss. On 28 February 1971, Nga Mya personally bayonetted ten Kayin leaders of the 1st Brigade who came to Bawtharaw village. Since then, Nga Mya gained control of the KNU. The KNU kept feuding with expatriates over their 'pasteur' lands and then ultimately, in January 1975, they resigned from the Front. And then the KNU gathered different ethnic rebel groups and founded an All States Union National Democratic Front but this front also was a nominal organisation. The KNU liquidated 'democracy' expatriates as their first priority task and the expatriates' People's Patriotic Party President Bo Let Ya was killed. He was a member of the Thirty Comrades and the first Defence Minister of Myanmar. The KNU Party continued to practise lordism and was consequently crushed in the Deltas by a combined force of Tatmadaw and the masses of the people. The KNU Party fled to Bago Yoma and again got crushed along with the Burma Communist Party in 1975. KNU Party President Saw Mya Maung and his armed followers had to cross Sittaung river and flee east. Those who escaped the Tatmadaw's annihilation got annihilated by Nga Mya. Saw Mya Maung, Soe Aung and 67 men capitulated before Nga Mya. In 1976, Nga Mya completely dissolved the KNUP. >From the designation KNUF given by Mahn Ba Zan, Nga Mya dropped the letter 'F' saying that it smacked of communism. Nga Mya, vowing to revive the original KNU movement in fact resuscitated the First Programme that had disgraced the Kayin revolution. The KNU Central Committee members had at one time acknowledged that the First Programme consisted of relying too heavily on imperialism and pursuing violently a narrow racist policy. They changed over to the Second Programme saying that the First Programme was wrong. At that time Nga Mya simply continued on the First Programme. When they said that the Second Programme was wrong and searched for the Third Programme Nga Mya kept clinging to the First Programme. But now... Nga Mya's consistent First Programme had completely destroyed the KNU. What are the KNU Central Committee members going to do now? They have appointed 27 February 1995 for a meeting to seek an answer. ********************INTERNATIONAL***************************** SCB: TEXACO SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION ON HUMAN RIGHTS cscheiner soc.culture.burma 3:38 PM Feb 28, 1995 ************* Help Texaco learn about Human Rights! The following resolution on international human rights will be on the corporate shareholder ballot for Texaco this year. It was filed by the Reformed Church in America and is being supported by the Sisters of Loretto, among others. Similar resolutions may be on the ballots for Pepsico and Unocal. Most of Texaco's involvement with Indonesia and East Timor is through Caltex, the largest foreign oil company in Indonesia, which is owned by Texaco and Chevron. Texaco's annual meeting will be on Tuesday, May 9 at the Rye Town Hilton in Westchester County, New York. There will probably be activities both inside and outside the meeting in support of this resolution and in criticism of Texaco's activities in Burma, Ecuador, Indonesia, East Timor, and elsewhere. Proxies are needed to allow people access to the meeting, where questions can be asked. For more information, or to offer proxies, contact Charles Scheiner at the East Timor Action Network and WESPAC (Westchester People's Action Coalition) at PO Box 1182, White Plains, NY 10602, 1-914-428-7299, fax 1-914-428-7383, email cscheiner@igc.apc.org. February 28, 1995 =============================================================== TEXACO SHAREHOLDER RESOLUTION WHEREAS: Texaco's Corporate Conduct Guidelines function as the company's statement of policy governing business internationally. In it, Texaco states our company: cooperates with federal, state and local governments in analyzing emerging environmental issues, finding solutions to environmental problems and developing cost-effective, scientifically based environmental standards. promotes employee safety and health, both on and off the jobmonstrates commitm ent to environment, health and safety matters by scheduling auditing/compliance assurance visits developed annually. believes a work environment which reflects diversity and is free of all forms of intimidation and harassment is essential for a productive and efficient work force. respects each employee's right to engage in or refrain from engaging in activities associated with representation by a labor organization. We commend Texaco for creating such forward looking guidelines. However, we believe these guidelines fall short m vitally important areas and that, in fact, Texaco's international conduct, at times, is in direct conflict with the company's own guidelines. For example, take the case of Texaco's expanding involvement in the police state of Burma, one of the world's most repressive countries, as confirmed by Amnesty International and the U.S. State Department. Many human rights groups believe Texaco's controversial connection with the illegitimate military junta in fact hurts our reputation more than it builds respect in the world community. Furthermore, a clear case can be made that Texaco's Burma involvement strengthens the repressive military government through the payment of tens of millions of dollars as payment for exploration rights, goods and services now and in the future. We believe Texaco also provides legitimacy to an ostracized government by investing there and portrays the country in a positive light which helps counter growing international criticism. But Burma is only one example. Texaco also does business in other countries with controversial human rights records: Indonesia, China and Thailand. Thus, we believe the Texaco's principles need significant expansion. Entirely absent from the present guidelines, for example, are clear human rights criteria. For example, Levi Strauss, in its Guidelines for Country Selection, states, "We should not initiate or renew contractual relationships in countries where there are pervasive violations of human rights." RESOLVED: The shareholders request the Board of Directors to review and update the Texaco Corporate Conduct Guidelines and report their revisions to shareholders and employees by September 1995. In its review, the Board shall include a section with guidelines on maintaining investments in or withdrawing from countries where there is a pattern of on-going and systematic violation of human rights, where a government is illegitimate or where there is a call by human rights advocates, pro-democracy organizations or legitimately elected representatives for economic sanctions against their country. SUPPORTING STATEMENT: We believe our company policy has a major loophole that needs to be addressed as it does business internationally. This resolution urges our Directors to take leadership and add to our Guidelines. ****************************MISC****************************** SCB: TIN MAUNG WIN THE HUMBUG [SLORCITE] bbatpt soc.culture.burma 2:08 PM Feb 23, 1995 (at au.ac.th) (From News system) For Immediate Rlae OEBRGO TIN MAUNG WIN THE HUMBUG YANGON, Date. . . . . By Assistance Feature Editor Khin Hnin Pwint I have known Tin Maung Win for some years, his father U Win a Hindu Indian from Myaung Mya, returned to Yangon form New Delhi when his assignment as an Ambassador of Myanmar was terminated , in mid fifties then he was appointed as a Religious Affairs Minister, then he became a Culture Minister. In those days in Yangon diplomatic circle, it became a talk of the town through Dr. Rauf That Mrs.Win and her son Tin Maung Win had a sickness as a psychological problems, both had the same symptoms. Dr. Rauf was the first Indian Ambassador to Myanmar and an elder brother of Mr. M.A. Ra Cabinet Minister for Trade and Industries. Their known problem happened to be " KLEPTOMANIA". Afte som ieU Win was given a generoscac otke his wife and sonteUie ttes so as to enable them to get the best medical and psychological treatment . He was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Myanmar to the United States. While U Win became his Excellency Mrs. Win and Tin Maung Win started their shoplifting spree, staying at the expensive hotels and left without paying their bills and to make matters worst the State Department had to write a stiff letter to his Excellency about his member of the family for their unacceptable behaviour when leaving their rooms they strip off everything starting from pillow case, bed sheets, toilet soaps, perfume and even the coat hangers and ash trays. After two years Tin Maung Win' s does not improve nor his mother's they were eventually recalled. When U Win arrived back in Myanmar, the then AFPFL cabinet had no idea what to do with him , so they suggested that he stand for election at the Yangon University Senate members Election. There were two vacancies, so the Trade and Industries Minister, Mr. M.A. Rashid\ another Kala (an Indian but he was a Muslim ) and U Win stood for the election. AFPFL supporters and Members of the Chamber of Commebute thousands of Kyats, (in the end it total to about Kyats 2 lakhs). Win / Shid lost the Election heavily, to the Communist supporter NDUF candidates. The only person who had gained benefit from the lost of the election was no other than Tin Maung Win , who disappeared from Yangon by eloping with a young Myanmar (nicknm aeaotd daughter of U Ba, principal of Teachers Training College, embezzled the Election funds about Kyats 2 lakhs on honeymoon in Mandalay. Soon after this episode the rL split and Win/Shid joined the clean faction, and that part known as clean AFPFL / or Pyi Daung Su Party which won the landslide victory, with this victory in the Parliamentary Democracy system, one could not find an opposition. The Pyi Daung Su Party member had nothing else to do but quarrelled amongst themselves and at the same time, the Shan' s Federal System was about to brake the country to smithering and the Tatmadaw had to intervene so as not to disintegrate. The end result was, peace and tranquillity was restored and U Win was amongst the people who were put under preventive custody. In the mid 1965 Tin Maung Win and Maung Aung were heavily involved in gambling,te otqie substantially at black Jack Cards Game, so they were indebted : then Tin Maung Win and Maung Aung had a grandiose scheme they said they were planning a counter revolution: they needed funds for the cause. Many people parted with their savings, jewellery and cash, while Tin Maung Win and Maung Aung were spending part of it, Law Enforcement Agency caught them at their fund raising meeting . After some time they were given General Amnesty and released . Due to Tin Maung Win's urging , instigation and encouragement , U Win though he was under medication for heart problems, they fled to the other country. While en route U Win Expired in the jungle through sheer exhaustion. Tin Maung Win was brilliant son who sent his father to his jungle grave in the Karen insurgent territory. Out of this tragedy Tin Maung Win found soaeadfindship with the Karen. There h e omrcook of the Burma Oil opn' rtish engineer Saw Bo Mya, notorious for his treachery, savagery and expert in the art of dacoit. When expatriate formed the so called Patriotic Army, Tin Maung Win became a "Colonel" With his introduction U Nu patronized Saw Bo Mya, invited him to Bangkok and made him a " General " thus he was known as General Bo Mya, U Nu had won a friend and influenced Nga Mya. Among the Pyi Daung Su Democracy Party only two person were in the pay roll of the CIA, one happened to be the late U Law Yone Editor of the Nation and Tin Maung Win. When Pyi Daung Su Party was dissolved in the jungle and U Nu left in a hurry for the United States and later seeked asylum in India, Tin Maung Win found a jack-pot. HK 33 and M1 uoai iles bought with CIA money were in possession of Tin Maung Win, he gave some as presents to Nga Mya and sold some of them to KNU . The proceeds of the sale of guns were sent back to the United States but not to the CIA, this time to his elder brother Khin Maung Win, who works with the VOA. Soon afterwards he reemerged in the State of Virginia, as a young entrepreneur, managing a Cheak-speak bay sea food restaurant living in US $600 per week condominium. Later part of 1986 and early days of 1987 Tin Maung Win and Ye Kyaw Thu who was certified blind with the blessing and financing of CIA jointly organized and formed the Committee for the restoration of Democracy in Burma, he did receive " aid " from the CIA and also donation from the United Kingdom, Japan, Thailand and the United States of America at this point he resigned from the Restaurant n eclardtat he is going back to full time politics . But CRDB got no where. Well, during ' 88 incident one can see Tin Maung Win and Ye Kaw Thu becoming a jet setter. The students who were mislead by CRDB found to their amazement that they had instantly became a pawn and refugees, and harassed by the Thai. With Tin Maung Win and his blind comrades in arm introduced to Nga Mya, the students were each given a bamboo stick for military training by KNU . Thus ABSDF was formed and that is how Tin Maung Win made a fortune. He took picture, video of sick students, eating banana stems, well people fell for Tin Maung Win's tricks, donations started to pour in, when he made the fortune those donations went back to the same person, Khin Maung Win , his elder brother ,who bought a five bed room as alled pro-democracy opposition group to unite under a newim to ognz organizatio aldDAB (Demcaic Alliance Burma) whichi many c alled DOA (death on arriv al ) , by patronising British, who had no control over Tin Maung Win. Tin Maung Win used the office of the DAB and made arrangements with Opium War Lord Khun Sar and Nga Mya to meet but not under duress, one wonders, how much did he get as introduction fees from Khun Sar and Nga Mya. CIA had made a vow to crush Khun Sar and stamp out the narcotic industries which kill thousands of US citizens, we want to believe this , they can prove it to us by denying their involvement or through their citizen Tin Maung Win's involvement in an unholy aetween Khun Sar and Nag Mya. All they have to do is deny it publicly their involvement and disown Tin Maung Win and DAB, make him a Stateless person, and strip him Bode ads are clean. But you have the right to remain silent , its your privilege. One wonisreputable CIA can get itself involve with a known felon like Tin Maung Win. Khin Hnin Pwint Assistant Feature Editor Myanmar Tele Fax News Ag ency P. O. Box 1187 Yangon Myanmar ****************************MISC****************************** NEWSWEEK: WHEN WORDS ARE THE BEST WEAPON February 27, 1995 Revolution: Information an undermine dicatorships, and the faster it flows, the more trouble they're in. How rebels use the Internet and satellite TV: Here's how to wage a revolution in the Information Age: two weeks ago Mexican government troops lunged into the rain forests of Chiapas state in renewed pursuit of the Zapatista rebels. When the federal soldiers reached an insurgent stonghold at Guadalupe Tepeyac, the guerrillas melted into the jungle, leaving behind a few trucks but taking with them their most valuable equipment--fax machines and laptop computers. In tretreat, the Zapatistas faxed outa communique claiing that the army was "killing children, beating and raping women...and bombing us." Soon the government was taking another public relations beating It stopped the offensive and allowed reporters into the area. They found no signs of atrocities or bombing. But the government had been thwarted, and the rebels were free to figh on, with words as their best weapons. The Zapatistas' chief spokesman, Subcommandante Marcos (the government says hs name is Rafael Guillen_, knows that he will never obtain political power from the barrel of a gun. "What governmetns should really fear," he told a Newsweek reporter last summer, "is a communications expert." Informatoin technology has always been seen as a potentially revolutionary weapon. Almost as soon as the printing press was invented, governmetns and churges tried to control it, and the Ottoman Empire shunned the technology for almost 300 years. The American Revolution was spurred on by Benjamin Franklin, a printer; Thomas Paine, a pamphleteer, and Samuel Adams, a propagandist. In the modern era vulnerable governments have been challenged by proliferating means of communication. Long- distance telephone service, for example, helped to undermine the Soviet Union, connecting dissidents to each other and to supporters outside the country. Other Communist regimes have been weakened by radio and television signals: West German programs beamed into East Germany, and broadcasts from Hong Kong feeding the appetite for reform in mainland China. Violent revolutions, especially those that resort to terrorism, often have the most success with relatively low-tech weapons. But like the Zapatistas, many of today's revolutionaries are better talkers than fighters, accomplishing little or nothing on the battlefield. "These new insurgencies, in the end, are aimed more at high-intensity lobbying and low-intensity fighting," says William LeoGrande of the American University in Washington, an expert on leftest movements. Now they have the tools they need. Older communications technology such as radio and televsion is centralized and subject to government contorl, if only through the assignemetn of frequencies and the jamming of unauthorized signals. The latest gear, such as satellite television receivers or computers linked to the Internet, is decentralized, diffused and --so far-- almost impossible to police or control. The Internet is the fastest-growing communication tool, with as many as 30 million subscribers in 92 countries. Even Chinese dissidents are beginning to use e-mail. News about the fight against Chinese repression in Tibet is regularly gathered and circulated by the Longon-based Tibet Information Network, one of dozens of human rights organizations using the Information Superhighway. In the Soviet Union, the Internet played a small but vital role in defeating the attempted coup by Communist hard liners in 1991. Soviet computer scientists had hooked up to the Internet only a few months before. When Boris Yeltsin and his reformists holed up in the White House, the Russian republics's Parliament, someone inside the building started sending bulletins, including Yeltsin's edicts, on the Internet.l They were picked up b y the Voice of America (VOA) which broadcast them back to the Soviet Union by radio, helping to rally public support for Yeltsin. Since then, the VOA has made a big investment in the Internet. It now offers acomputer users written news reports in 47 languages and audio bulletins in 16. Access is obtained through two fo the Interent's standard communications protocols: Internet Gopher and FTP (File Transfer Protocol). These aren't the most advanced gates, but that's precisely why the VOA chose them; more users overseas are likely to have them. The VOA currently logs about 100,000 uses of its Internet service each week. Thta's minuscule compared with the 92 million weekly VOA radio listeners. But Christopher Kern, the VOA's director of computer services, sayd the Internet has "wonderful demographics:; users are educated and influential. They also seem to have sensitive political antennae. Recently, when Washington and Beijing got into a nasty dispute over trade, no one in China logged on to the VOA Internet for an entire week. The next week, with the trade issue under negotiation, they came back on-line. On a much more modest scale, the Internet also has become a platform for the Zapatistas. One of the services offering information about the movement is run from Mexico City by Barbara pillsbury, a 24-year old American who works for a development organization. she transmits bulletins about the Zapatistas and communiques from Subcomandante Marcos to subscribers around the world (Her Internet address: pueblo@laneta.apc.org) She says interest in the Zapatistas helped introduce many Mexicans to cyberspace. "Beyond their concerns about Chiapas," says Pillsbury, "Mexicans have realized that they need to be part of this technology." Satellite TV is much easier to use, given the proper dish- shaped antenna and decoding equipment. The technology has become popular in many countries where the native TM menu is limited. There are thought to be more than 150,000 dishes in Saudi Arabia, pulling in programming as varied as CNN, Italian game shows, soft pornography from Tukey, sitcoms from Israel and religious fulminations from Iran, the kindom's archenemy. China, where dishes are institutionally owned, would seem to be at the opposite end of the scale as a market for satellite TV. But four months ago the VOA began beaming a weekly hour of TV news in Mandarin Chinese from the AsiaSat, whicha has a good broadcast "footprint" over the mailand. Is anyone watching? The VOA doesn't know yet. "We shot an arrow in the air," says Kern. Authoritarian governments of all political persuasions would like to shoot down satellite TV. Jamming is much more difficult that with radio, which uses a narrower and more vulnerable bandwidth. A more productive approach is to outlaw the dish antennas. The conservative Saudei government banned them last year, threatening a fine of $130,000 on anyone who continues to use them. Fundalmentalist Iran outlawed the dishes last month. The mullahs who rule Iran have been fighting a rear guard action against communications technology ever since they took power in 1979. Previously they tried--and failed--to suppress videocassettes and camcorders. The irony is that Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and his followers overthrew the Shah of Iran by using even more primitive communications technology. While Khomeini was still exiled in Parris, his calls to rebel agains the shah were disseminated throughout Iran on tape cassettes. Any means of communicatoin can be an intstrument of revolution, as long as it's in fairly widespread use. For years, Iraqui dictator Saddam Hussein banned private ownership of typewriters. He remembered the subversive power of the mimeograph machine when he was an ambitious young rebel plotting his own takeover. The most tightly closed societies, such as North Korea, and the most violently repressive one, such as Iraq and Libya, may not be susceptible to an Information Age revolution. InNorth Korea, shortwave radios are unavailable, even to the few who could afford them. Fax machins, privately owned computers and satellite TV are unheard of. Partly to constrict the flow of information, travel is severely limited, within the country as well as outside it: even bicyles were banned until about three years ago. Iraq and Libya have considerably more open sociietes, but their regimes remain in power thorugh the most ruthless terror tactics, killing off opponents, real or imagined, and utterly intimidating the rest of the population, which in any case has little access to outside informatoin. Even in less rigid dictatorships, communications technology cannet make a revolution by itself. The Soviet Union was done in by its own economic failures and a ruinous arms race, not by long-distance phone calls or foreign radio broadcasts. In Iran, the conditions for revolution were created by the shah's brutal repression and his breakneck modernization program, which outraged Muslim tradition. But the flow of informatoin helps to undermine such regimes, and the faster it flows, the more trouble they're in. Few states can afford to opt out of the Information Age; they have to keep up with at least some of hte latest scientific, technial and commercial developments. "We have a kind of knowledge market going on which is, in a way, impervious to the efforts of states to control it," says Paul Wilkinson, professor of international relations at the University of St. Andrews in Britain. If dictatorships want to play any part in the modern world, they have to risk exposing themselves to ideas and information that could inspire reform or spark revolution. ************************************************************** NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET: ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE AW: ASIAWEEK Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX), BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK) BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN CPPSM: C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET 106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL 6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC) NATION: THE NATION (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK) NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER, RANGOON) NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY **************************************************************